In Baltimore CityTeachers union OKs two-year contract,...

The Baltimore Teachers Union has accepted a two-year contract with the school board that gives the city's 7,000 teachers a 3 percent pay increase in June.

The conclusion to the acrimonious negotiations came Monday night when less than 4 percent of the membership -- about 240 people -- voted on the contract. School board members had ratified the contract Nov. 30.

Teachers fought the school board's effort to seek bids on their health care benefits because they did not want to give up coverage by CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. A compromise allows the school board to seek bids on health care next year, but not to reduce the level of coverage. The contract is retroactive to July 1.

Man killed, 2 others hurt in shooting at carryout

A gunman entered a West Baltimore carryout about 9 p.m. yesterday and shot three male customers, killing one and wounding the others. A homicide detective said the dead man was the gunman's intended target.

Detective John Gipe said the victims were inside Wong's Chinese Carryout in the 2100 block of W. North Ave. at North Pulaski Street when a gunman entered and fired at least six shots at a West Baltimore man in his 20s. The victim, whose name was not released, died at the scene.

Gipe said at least two bullets struck the other men, one in the leg and the other in the foot. One was treated at Maryland Shock Trauma Center and the other at St. Agnes HealthCare. The gunman was not identified.

Custody hearing set in abandoned boy's case

A court hearing to determine custody of a 9-month-old boy abandoned in West Baltimore Nov. 23 has been scheduled for next month. Police have charged the infant's mother with child abuse and reckless endangerment.

Agent Ragina L. Cooper, a police spokeswoman, said Tamara Davis, 21, whose address on McCulloh Street was not known, was arrested Nov. 30 at Woodbrook and West North avenues after a tip. Cooper said Davis' son, Joshua, was found crying and wrapped in a blanket under a park bench in the 2600 block of Woodbrook Ave.

A hospital examination showed that the boy was in good health. Joshua was turned over to the state Department of Social Services, who placed him in a foster home pending the outcome of the hearing.

Arrest made after mail stolen from 60 Belair-Edison homes

A man was arrested yesterday and charged with stealing mail from the mailboxes of more than 60 homes in the Belair-Edison community of Northeast Baltimore, police said.

Gregory Walls Jr., 27, of the 5500 block of Purdue Ave. in Northeast Baltimore, was charged with 64 counts of mail theft. He was arrested by Officer Chris Bielecki, who was responding to a 3: 45 p.m. report of mail being stolen from a house in the 4000 block of Erdman Ave.

The officer found 180 pieces of stolen mail, including utility bills, pre-approved credit cards, newly printed checks and other material that were traced to the mailboxes of nearby homes, police said. Walls also was charged with trying to cash a forged stolen check for $1,300 at a Highlandtown liquor store on Dec. 3.

In Baltimore County

Police seek car that victim of homicide had been driving

ESSEX -- County police are searching for the car a 16-year-old Baltimore youth was driving before he was found shot to death Sunday in Essex.

Police said David M. Lafferty of the 5500 block of Edna Ave. was driving a dark gray 1991 Nissan Maxima with Maryland license plates CDY 052. His body was found in the 1400 block of Evergreen Lane.

Anyone with information is asked to call the police at 410-887-2198.

Owings Mills strangling of woman ruled a homicide

OWINGS MILLS -- The state medical examiner's office ruled yesterday that the death of a 26-year-old Owings Mills woman found in her apartment Monday morning was a homicide.

Annelise Hyang Suk Lee, of the first block of Hartley Circle, was struck and strangled, Baltimore County police said. Lee's body was found by a maintenance worker, who had been asked to check the apartment by Lee's employer. The employer worried when Lee did not report for work, police said.

Lee was last seen alive at 7: 30 p.m. Friday at her workplace, Shapiro Financial Services in Baltimore. Police ask anyone with information, or who may have known Lee, to call 410-887-2198.